Laura Hayes

Laura is a theatre-maker and educator, currently Associate Dean, Practice Research at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), University of the Arts Singapore (UAS). At NAFA, Laura spearheads initiatives that develop practice research including an annual conference — the Arts & Design Practice Research Exchange (ADPRex). Her research explores devised theatre-making, collaborative authorship, and creative interventions in playwriting. Often inspired her training at the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, she also investigates how objects shape and inspire theatre-making and how collaborative creation intersects with performance copyright. She is currently co-editing a special issue of the journal Performance Research extending from ADPRex 2025, titled ‘Capturing Practice’.

As a teacher, Laura is a specialist in Shakespeare and in Lecoq based techniques including devised theatre-making, object theatre, chorus, clown, and mask. She taught people of all ages and abilities, including those on the autistic spectrum in her work with Kelly Hunter and Touchstone Shakespeare Theatre (now Flute Theatre).

Laura’s practice as a creator and performer often guides her research. As a creator-performer, Laura’s theatre collective, Autopoetics, make work in Singapore. Together, they have staged two productions; Provenance (2018, Drama Centre Black Box) and no there there (2024, NAFA Studio Theatre). Provenance was developed from Laura’s writing in the form of a (play)box. As a playwright, Laura’s play Dive was staged by W!ld Rice in September 2024. An audio play, Hide and Seek, was produced by Centre 42 in Singapore as part of the Waterloo Street Stories for the Singapore Night Festival in September 2023, and her work has been published in Scriptum: Creative Writing Research Journal. Her acting experience includes work at the Tron Theatre, the Arts Theatre, the New End Theatre, Southwold Rep, Eye Theatre, and for Mercurial Productions, 3 Short 1 Tall, Rumpus, and Dreamthinkspeak.